Last week we learned that the situation in africa is significantly worse than we thought. I am not talking about poverty. I’m talking about theft. In Nigeria alone, some US $400 billion was stolen by that country’s leaders during the last four decades of the 20th Century, according to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. "We cannot be accurate down to the last figure, but that is our projection," said Commission spokesman Osita Nwajah.
This staggering sum, equal to six times the amount that the Marshall Plan provided to rebuild Europe, was taken by Nigeria’s military leaders between 1960, when the country gained independence from Britain and 1999, when civilian rule was re-established.
Nigeria is a relatively wealthy nation, by any standard, not just that used for africa, given that the country has over 35 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. However, this story illustrates just how badly in need of reform most african nations are.
and still, the G-8 nations are going to be forgiving some US $50 billion in debt run up by 18 of africa’s poorest nations. In addition Bob Geldof, the Irish rocker formerly of "the Backstreet Boys", wants to raise awareness of Third-World poverty by holding a series of concerts worldwide in an effort to pressure the world’s wealthier nations into giving .7% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to poorer nations.
Bad idea! There is no limit to the amount of money that the kleptocrats of africa are capable of stealing and there appears to be very little oversight of the funds that are given. a much better idea might be to show african nations how they can generate their own renaissance through good governance.
Think about the quality of leadership that many african nations are under and it becomes a no-brainer that any money given would be throwing good money after bad. When you consider the kind of government provided by luminaries such as Charles Taylor, formerly of Liberia, whose murderous rampages are legion, you may garner some idea of how seriously awful things in africa are. Taylor, who is currently living in luxurious exile in Nigeria while under indictment for crimes against humanity, is attempting to form an army that will overthrow the governments of several smaller african nations so that he can re-emerge as absolute dictator of a new aggregate nation.
Then there is Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who took what was formerly known as the thriving nation of Rhodesia and turned it into an economic cesspool augmented by human rights abuses of unspeakable scope. The 81 year-old leader appears to be on his last legs, as rumors of his imminent demise abound. However the designated successor to Mugabe, Joyce Mujuru, doesn’t appear to be any less corrupt than Mugabe. as Zimbabwe’s minister of telecommunications she allocated a cell phone network license to a consortium headed up by her husband, Solomon and Robert Mugabe’s nephew, Leo.
Even South africa is beginning to experience incidents of corruption, as a recent scandal exposed several members of that country’s parliament as having cheated on their travel expenses. To South africa’s credit, the parliamentarians were forced to resign their seats.
While Geldof and all the guilty western liberals who are supporting efforts to buy africa out of poverty may have their hearts in the right place, it seems their heads are somewhere less glamorous. Giving money to african nations to "buy" them out of poverty is a monumental exercise in futility. My suggestion would be to flush that money straight down the toilet instead of having it take the circuitous route to the same place via numbered Swiss bank accounts.
If Geldof & company were truly serious about doing something meaningful for african nations, they would staunchly advocate withholding all aid until africans nations became serious about reforming themselves.